O Cebreiro is the high mountain pass that marks the entry into Galicia from El Bierzo, and one of the most evocative places on the entire Camino de Santiago. The village sits at 1,300 metres on a windswept saddle, and consists of a handful of pre-Roman pallozas — circular stone houses with conical thatched roofs — clustered around a small Romanesque church. The pallozas are among the oldest house-types in Europe still standing.
The Iglesia de Santa María la Real, founded in the ninth century, houses a miraculous host and chalice that have made the village a minor pilgrimage destination in its own right. Even outside Holy Week, the place can be foggy and atmospheric, with sheep grazing in front of the stone walls and the wind dropping suddenly when you step inside the church. Reach it by car from the LU-633 or on foot up the steep Camino from Las Herrerías.